De Simone: We Hold These Truths to Be Self-evident...

That all Men are created equal… President Obama’s second inaugural speech was based on the theme that “We, the people,” should work together. The problem is that today America is too far to the left with regards to fundamental moral issues. Let’s start with the Ten Commandments, or at least those commandments that are relevant to our times.

Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. When I first arrived in Norristown, I was shocked to learn that all four of the movie theaters in town were closed on Sunday. Why? In respect of the Blue Laws, I was told. It was explained to me that it was a Protestant tradition related to keeping holy the Lord’s Day. It made sense to me so I had no problem with it. I was fifteen years old and Sunday evenings were devoted to my school work. So on those rare occasions that I did go to the movies, I did so in Philadelphia where I was going to school anyway, and where they showed many Italian films. Today, on Sundays, stores are open, many industries work overtime all week-end long, and many services need to be available for the security of the community. I, myself, when I worked in the pharmaceutical industry took advantage of all the overtime I could get. The demands of modern life made it necessary to do so, especially when I had children in college. I haven’t heard much from the pulpit about it keeping holy the Lord’s Day, so I did so by making sure I made mass every Sunday, I trained my children to do likewise, and I say my prayers regularly. After the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960’s the church allowed Catholics to go to mass on Saturday nights after vespers, and that made things a little easier.

Honor thy mother and thy father (and your elders, your teachers, your superiors, etc.) There are many families of my acquaintances that have a loving relationship with their children. Unfortunately, many do not. I remember that in the first five years in this country I lived on East Marshall Street, near Green. It was a mixed neighborhood made up of African and Italian Americans. Every Sunday morning several families came out in their entirety, led by both their parents, with the children beautifully dressed, they headed for their respective churches.

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Today, many families are broken up, the children are left to their own devices, the roles of the fathers and mothers have been diluted to a mere presence, if that. So much for the Fourth Commandment!

I’ll skip the Sixth Commandment for the time being except to relate a Malvern Retreat joke. When Moses led his people out of bondage, upon reaching the foothills of Mount Sinai, he heard a loud voice commanding him to climb the mountain and receive the tables of the law. After recommending everyone to behave (ha!), he trudged up the steep hill. A week later here comes Moses down the mountain carrying three tables with fifteen Commandments on them. “Oh, no, Moses! That’s too many. Go back and negotiate some more!” was the general consensus. So, Moses patiently goes up the mountain again. A week later, he came down again and this time the commandments had been reduced to ten. Yea, Moses! Applause, applause! “But, that’s the good news,” said he. Suddenly a hush fell upon the crowd. Everyone waited tensely for the other shoe to drop. Finally, a voice was heard from the middle of the crowd. “What’s the bad news, Mose?” “Number six is still there!” was the answer. I think there were a number of boo’s that arose from the multitude, but they were hushed; no one wants to unveil his true feelings. After all, confession had not been invented yet!

Abortion is only related to the sixth Commandment peripherally. The real stumbler, the one that no “choicer” ever wants to admit is the fifth: “Thou shalt not kill!” Because, that is what abortion is, the “stopping of a beating heart.” It’s the separation of body and soul - death.

This year we are mourning the 40th anniversary of the infamous, Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision of Jan. 23, 1973. How could such a revered body of justices come up with such a diabolical decision is beyond logic. Were they all drunk that day, or what?

Consider this: everyone agrees, I hope, that we humans are created with the dual nature of body and soul (otherwise we would be no better than a pack of stray dogs). There can be no other conclusion than to assert that LIFE begins at the moment of conception. At that point there occurs the simultaneous miracle of the creation of a new human being – body and soul. The soul is not contained in the sperm, nor is it in the egg. Therefore, the only logical conclusion we can possibly arrive at is that life is created anew by God in cooperation with the parents. So, life begins at the moment of conception. If not then, then when? When the kid eats his first Big Mac?

Leaving the Decalogue, let’s look at the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” Which means that we who are alive today and all the unborn children killed since 1/23/1973, were created equal. Moreover, we are equally American citizens, and we all have the equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Under what law is it, then, that we have the egregious audacity to kill the unborn before they even abandon their mothers’ wombs?